Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Antonius Arida Supports Jewish Presence and Zionism

Antonius II Peter Arida, the 73rd Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon, openly expressed his support for Jews and Zionism during a 1935 visit to the Kadisha Valley, a historic Maronite site in Lebanon. At age 72, Arida spoke candidly about the Jewish community in Lebanon and the potential for Jewish settlement there, stating, "Jews are more welcome to us than Arabs." He viewed the economic growth of Mandatory Palestine as a positive sign and believed that uniting the Maronite and Jewish minorities would strengthen their position against the Arab majority.

Israeli archaeologist and journalist Zvi Ilan documented this encounter in the newspaper Davar, noting that engineers working on a road near Tripoli confirmed the patriarch's pro-Israel stance and his desire to encourage Jewish immigration to Lebanon. Arida also highlighted the economic crisis in Syria caused by World War I and Japanese competition in the silk industry, criticizing French colonial rule.

Born in 1863 in Bkerkasha, Lebanon, Arida studied theology in Paris and became patriarch in 1932. In 1933, amid rising Nazi persecution, he issued a call to Maronite churches worldwide to protect Jews, emphasizing their shared heritage and calling Jews "our brothers." In 1937, he publicly declared pride in their common ancestry and language similarities between Syriac and Hebrew.

On May 30, 1946, Arida signed a formal agreement with the Jewish Agency, led by Chaim Weizmann, representing the Maronite pro-Zionist movement alongside Archbishop Ignace Moubarak of Beirut. However, the agreement was never implemented as Lebanon chose a different political path. Arida died on May 19, 1955.

The 1935 interview was published in Davar and reprinted by the Arabic newspaper Falastin, which sought to inflame the Jewish-Arab conflict. Historian Israel Shapira, who authored several books on the region, highlighted this episode as a significant but lesser-known chapter in Lebanese-Jewish relations.